TFP : Bond That Goes Beyond
by AriaChronos
Summary: This human girl remembered nothing. Arianna, Optimus Prime's daughter, was the only company she had. They wished to be together forever, and that wish was about to come true. Don't own Transformers Prime.
1. Why can't I remember?

**This is AriaChronos, and boy it's good to be back. For those who knew me, I wrote TFP story long time ago. At that time I was a newbie at fanfiction, so I messed up pretty bad. At that time I felt like my story was perfect, but when I revisited it, I didn't feel good whatsoever. Which is why I stopped mid-track and questioned the meaning of life. Still, my love for Transformers Prime and my OC remains as much. After so many time considering, I've decided to reboot it.**

 **So this is a reboot from my previous stories. I do hope I did a slightly better job this time. Reviews are much appreciated.**

 **Disclaimer : Transformers Prime belongs to their respective companies. This is for entertainment only.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

 _Three years ago..._

White light from single light bulb above greeted her as she opened her eyes. The human girl blinked several times to adjust her vision. Sweeping her long black hair from her face, the girl slowly raised her body up. As her sight got clearer, she discovered herself in a small room. A cot underneath her was the only furniture in there. And, she wasn't alone.

"Oh, you awake?"

The girl yelped in surprise. The one called her was a talking robot in blue metallic body. The female voice suggesting it was a she. The human girl scrambled backward to get away from the mechanical creature.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you," the robot reassured.

Consciousness restored, confusion set in. The human girl looked at her surrounding with no idea how she got there.

"Who are you...? Where is this? What happened to me?" she stuttered in brink of panic attack.

"Calm down please, or you're going to fry your circuits," the robot girl said, "Let's start slowly. My name is Arianna. What is your name?"

The human girl wrecked her brain for an answer. But she came up empty, which confused her even more, "...I don't know. I don't remember my name, or who I am. Why can't I remember?"

"You can't remember? Something wrong with your memory core?" asked Arianna, "That's so bad. Unfortunately I don't know why either. They just came and put you in here. They didn't say anything about who you were."

"Who are they?"

"I don't know. Just some humans, like you, but much taller and dressed in white garment. They said something about 'limited space', which is why they put you with me. Sorry I can't provide with much information."

Not knowing was so frustrating. The human girl sighed in defeat, then decided to ask,

"What are you? A talking robot? Did those humans in white garment made you?"

"No, I'm not created by humans. I'm an Autobot," replied Arianna, "I'm not from this planet. I came from Cybertron. It is, well, a planet far away from here basically."

"So...you're from outer space? An alien robot?"

"Yes. You said you lost your memory, but you catch up fast."

The girl pondered for a moment, "...I still can't remember my name for some reason. So, how you ended up here?"

"Long story. My home planet is in middle of war, between us Autobots and Decepticons. I was with other younglings at refugee site, when we got attacked by the enemies. Apparently, they came for me. They kidnapped me and brought me to their warship. I had no idea how long I spent in there. The ship finally landed here, on this planet."

"You're saying an alien ship landed on Earth?" asked the human girl in disbelief.

"I believe so. For what purpose, I didn't know. But I knew I had to run away. After a long time waiting for a chance, I finally found a slip and ran away. Not long after that I was caught again, this time by the natives," said Arianna, "I believe I've spent roughly twenty night cycles in this place."

"Why did the enemy kidnap you?"

"I think it's because I'm the daughter of the Autobot leader. His name is Optimus Prime. I think Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons, wanted to hold me hostage to win the war. I wasn't going to let him do that."

The human girl took some time to process all the information she just heard. It was kind of absurd, but she knew the robot told the truth. She hesitated to ask the next question.

"...What did those people do to you, in here?"

Arianna closed her eyes, "They studied me."

She showed parts of her armour covering that were cut away. The human girl gasped at that sight.

"...Did that hurt?"

"A bit, not so much," replied Arianna.

"...You're made of metal. Why didn't you fight back?"

"Because I can't," Arianna replied in dry tone, "Initially all younglings my age were already being initiated as trainees for the Autobot force. I went to register myself in the training camp as well, but it soon became clear that I wasn't made for fighting. First off, I'm smaller than all younglings my age. I messed up big time during the test. I was scared of hitting things. So I was kicked out in day one."

"Even though you should be hitting something now?"

Arianna paused for a moment, "I can't bring myself to harm the humans. They're just curious. Can't blame them. And this pain is nothing compared to what my father experienced on daily basis..." Arianna said as she curled up her knees, "If only I wasn't this weak, I should've been in the military, training to be a soldier. That way I could help my father. At the very least, not getting kidnapped like this."

Hearing the Autobot femme talking about her family didn't ease the human girl's mind at all. She had absolutely no idea who she was, or if there was someone out there looking for her.

"...You still can't remember your name?" asked Arianna.

The human girl shook her head.

"It's inconvenient for you not having a name. Let's see, what should I call you?" Arianna crossed her arms and thought hard, "...Can I call you Aria?"

"What?"

"I'm bad at naming things. So I just used a part of my name..." drawled Arianna innocently, "...You don't like it?"

The human girl thought for a second, "It's better than nothing, though."

Arianna smiled, "Alright, from now on I'll call you Aria. It's nice to finally have someone else in here."

The door of the small room suddenly opened, interrupting the two girls' conversation. It was a man dressed in white coat carrying a tray of sandwich and drinking water. The man set the tray down on the floor.

"Eat up, and be quick, because we're going to do a test."

* * *

 **I really hope you enjoy this first episode. Review please :D**


	2. Lost

**Chapter 2**

* * *

Despite Aria's worry, the test the scientists were conducting on them that day wasn't exactly what she expected. It was physical test that lasted pretty long. When Aria and Arianna returned to their quarter, the scientist dimmed the lamp, suggesting night time. Aria slowly climbed back to her cot. Both girls prepared to have their rest, when Arianna noticed her human companion shivering.

"What's wrong?" asked Arianna.

"A bit cold in here," Aria stated as she wrapped her arms around her body.

"Well, you only have that one fabric covering your body."

Arianna then moved closer to Aria. Aria was hesitating at first, but then she was surprised to find that Arianna's body had warmth.

"How can your metal body be...warm?" asked Aria in confusion.

"We're living things, Aria. Not machine. Of course we have heat in our body," replied Arianna.

"Right, sorry."

Arianna merely chuckled, "Is this enough for you? Are you still cold?"

"No..." Aria said as she snuggled even closer to Arianna, "Arianna, thank you."

"No problem," replied Arianna with a smile.

But as hours progressed on, it became clear that Aria was unable to sleep.

"Aria, what's bothering you?" asked Arianna.

"I just can't believe this is happening. I found myself in this place without knowing how or why. Do you know how it feels? When you woke up without knowing who you were? Without knowing anything?" muttered Aria, "I thought my memory would come back as time passed by. But the more I waited for it...the more I got crazier."

The black haired pressed herself to Arianna's chestplate and began sobbing.

"I...just can't take this anymore," she sobbed out, "Not knowing is so painful."

Arianna tried to soothe her human friend by patting her gently on the back.

"You will know. If not today, it will be another day," soothed Arianna.

"How can you be this calm? Do you...honestly think that your father will eventually find you?" Aria promptly asked.

Arianna gazed at the ceiling as she recalled a memory, "I asked the same question to my father once. I asked him how he could be so calm and collected while there was only death everywhere," she recalled, "He said that worrying wouldn't do him any good. In difficult times, instead of worrying, we should be focusing on what to do."

"And what do you think _we_ should do?" lamented Aria in hopelessness.

"I have no idea yet," replied Arianna uncertainly, "Maybe the next day something bad will happen to us. But even if it does, it's not the end of the story. Because the best is yet to come, we just have to wait for it."

A moment ago there was only worry in Aria's mind. But Arianna's words managed to calm her troubled mind.

"At least, that was what my father told me. Thinking about him somehow erases all my worries," Arianna reminisced as she curled herself into ball, "I miss him so much. Because of the war, we rarely got the chance to see each other. As far as I can remember, I only saw him, for like 4 times so far. One face to face, three on video communication."

Aria didn't understand the little Autobot at all. For some reason she could tell all her story with a smile.

"Hey Aria, try to smile at least. Our situation isn't that bad. We have each other after all. In difficult situation a friend is the best thing to happen, right?" Arianna took a pause to smile at the human girl, "Thank you Aria, for being here with me."

A warm feeling swirled inside Aria's chest, something she was totally foreign to. But, she managed to crack a smile, "I don't know if it works like that. But, I feel the same way...I think. I mean, I can't imagine if I was here alone, with nobody."

Arianna suddenly took a hold of her hand, much to Aria's surprise.

"If you want to, I will be with at least until you find your family," said Arianna, "I'll tell you some good story from my home world, hopefully it can help you resting."

The room was colder as night went late, yet all Aria could feel was warmth.

* * *

It was just few days ago they met, and despite their difference, Aria and Arianna already formed a tight bond between them. They needed it, especially in the confusing situation they were in. Aria was the worst out of the two. Because of her memory loss, she was in constant paranoia. If Arianna weren't there to provide support, the girl would've lost her mind from day one.

That day, they were tested by the scientists again. For some reason, Aria and Arianna were examined in separate labs. When Aria woke up from the test drug, she could hear the scientists whispering.

"-demanded that we finish this within this week," one scientist said.

"Really? So we have to do that sooner than later?"

"Yeah, I'm afraid we have to speed things up."

Bad feeling grew inside Aria's mind, but currently she was still paralyzed from the drug. The scientists escorted the girls back to their quarter. Recalling the vague conversation from before, she knew something was about to happen.

"Arianna, I heard them talking," Aria ranted in panic, "They're going to do something...!"

Arianna didn't answer. She simply stayed motionless and gazed to the ceiling longingly.

"Arianna...! You hear me?" Aria called in slightly annoyed tone.

"Yes, I hear you," Arianna replied.

Aria moved closer to Arianna and grasped her hand in fear, "...I'm scared."

Arianna grasped Aria's hand back, "Hey, it's going to be alright," she said in reassuring tone, "Bad things aren't the end of everything. The good things are yet to come."

Aria stared at the taller Autobot with skeptical eyes, "You still believe in such thing?"

Arianna nodded, "I will always believe until the very end. That's what my father always does."

Aria had no idea of who this Optimus Prime might be. One thing for sure, Arianna thought highly of her father.

"Aria, can you promise something for me?"

"What is it?"

"Scary things will happen, no doubt about it. But promise me that you will stay strong. That you won't give up until you get your memory back," said Arianna, "Can you promise me that?"

Those words were all too vague, confusing Aria even more. The look Arianna gave her worried the black haired girl to no end. Arianna then grasped both of Aria's small hands, as if to get her to answer.

"...I promise, Arianna," replied Aria reluctantly.

Arianna considered the answer satisfactory, "Thank you, Aria. I'm really glad to get to meet you. I really wish I can be with you forever but..."

Aria was about to say something, when the door of the room suddenly opened, revealing 5 scientists in surgeon clothes. Without saying anything, the scientists group took the girls with them.

"Isn't the test already over? What are we going to do now?" Aria asked to the scientists.

But no answer from them.

The scientists brought the girls back to the lab, but this time everything was different. There were more people and equipment than usual. Not to mention, there were two berths in different size, equipped with straps. It looked like a surgery room. The girls were separated into the two berths and strapped down. Aria's fear grew even worse, that she started hyperventilating.

"W-what are you going to do?" Aria rasped in middle of the panting.

"Relax," one of the surgeon suggested, "We can't have your temperature too high to the point that your system mess up. Gentlemen, shall we begin?"

"Prepare the implant!"

The surgeon didn't work with Aria yet, as most of them made their way to Arianna, who was laying at the opposite site of Aria. They picked up some heavy duty tools, and Aria watched in horror as they pried open the Autobot's chest plate. She remembered something Arianna told her before.

 _"_ _Inside here is my spark, the source of my life," Arianna described as she touched her chest plate._

 _"_ _Like human heart?" Aria inquired as she pointed to the left side of her chest._

 _"_ _Yeah, I think so. Without it, I won't be alive."_

"No..." she gasped.

For some reason Arianna didn't feel anything as the humans opened up her chest plate. She merely gazed straight to Aria's terrified eyes. To Aria's confusion, Arianna's optics didn't show any sign of fear or pain. Was that...peace in her eyes?

The chest plate was open, revealing the blue spark. A big metal clamp lifted by three scientists was placed on the veins connected to the spark chamber. Aria could hardly believe what she was witnessing.

"No...! Don't do that! Arianna!" Aria pleaded as she struggled against her bond.

The scientists simply looked at her briefly and then continued with their job. Arianna merely smiled sadly at Aria, as if she was saying farewell.

The clamp severed the spark chamber veins with loud crack. Arianna's spark crackled wildly for a few seconds, then the light died off. Aria felt like time has stopped as she watched Arianna's blue optics slowly flickered and finally went off.

"Arianna...?! Can you hear me?! ARIANNA!" Aria screamed in horror.

She kept screaming and screaming, but Arianna could answer no more. The doctor finally decided to subdue her by injecting a powerful drug.

"The subject is finally under. We can begin the fusion procedure," reported the scientist.

It felt like just seconds passed by, but by the time Aria opened her eyes again, she felt so different. She still retained the memory from the previous operation. However she felt...nothing. As if somebody just took her ability to feel.

She awoke on different lab, surrounded by scientists who were pleased by her regaining consciousness.

"Good, the subject is awake. Stand up if you can."

Her body reacted by itself. As Aria finally took a standing position, she realized that she was clad in black rubber jumpsuit. Her long black hair was tied into a ponytail. She felt a drastic change in her body, mostly on her vision.

"Now, shall we present her to our client?"

Wordlessly, Aria followed the scientist group to different group. They were greeted by another group of men, who were dressed in black coat.

"Is this it?" the leader of the black group spoke.

"Your patience is paid off, gentlemen. Introducing the new advance in science and engineering technology. We have no name yet, so I'll call this, Project Cyber-organic Fusion."

"Name is not the importance. Show me what she can do."

Aria cocked her head to the side to find five human-sized dummy.

"Mr. Valka, I will hand the honor to you. By the way, her label is 002."

"002, exterminate the target!" ordered the mafia man.

Again, Aria's body reacted without she ordered it. Much to her surprise, her body felt so much lighter than before. She lifted her right arm, which turned from normal human arm to sea-green coloured metal robotic arm cannon. She pointed her arm cannon and fired off green coloured laser beam to destroy three dummies. Then, she charged forward. Her left arm transformed as well, into a sword. Swiftly, she slashed two remaining dummies in one attack.

The men in black coat voiced their disbelief and excitement.

"Impressive. And she is completely under my control," asked the boss.

"I've programmed her to follow orders especially from you, as you requested before," replied the scientist.

"Come here, my ace card," ordered the boss.

As ordered, Aria walked closer to the man with numerous scars on his face.

"With this small body, you sure pack a punch huh. I was bit disappointed that you came in a puny kid body. But from what I've seen, you will do just fine," he then turned to the scientist, "It's official. From today on, you will be my right hand."

"Excuse me boss," another man with punk hair and face piercing came forward, "But that position belongs to me."

"And I declare today is your last day of the job."

"What?! You can't possibly replace me with a half machine freak!"

"Whoever I'm going to replace is up to me. And never think I don't know all the 'activities' you did without my permission," the boss surmised darkly, "002, Demote my useless right hand man off his rank."

"What? Boss, no...!" the ex-right hand man immediately ran away for his life.

But the newly constructed Aria was faster. She was quick to catch up with the fleeing man. With a single blast from her arm cannon, it was all over, with a nasty spill of human blood and organs on her body and the floor.

"Mr. Valka, I'd appreciate if you didn't do that in our place," the doctor groaned.

"My bad, doctor. I'll double the pay for the cleaning process."

The conversation between the men sounded like a buzz to Aria's ear, as she inspected her first kill. Her computerized vision scanned through the human remains on the floor. Then she shifted her gaze to the blood on her robotic hand. She still felt nothing. Fear, disgust, or regret was nowhere to be found. She could perfectly remember all the events leading up to the surgery. She still remembered watching Arianna's light went off. Realization came harder than a falling sky. That metallic body, which covered in human blood, was Arianna's. The hand she used to kill the man belonged to Arianna, who was terrified of harming humans.

But Arianna was not around anymore.

* * *

 **Review please :D**


	3. Revelation

**Chapter 3**

* * *

 _Present time..._

Autobot HQ.

Team Prime had just came back from their mission stopping the Arctic meltdown courtesy of Decepticon. Big things happened at that day. Starscream's plan to melt down the Arctic ice to reach the Energon deposit was outstanding. But the bigger revelation came after that, Megatron was back in the Decepticon rank. Nevertheless the mission wore the team out. Optimus was exposed to Starscream's melting device and thrown off the Nemesis. Arcee and Bulkhead were pretty battered after the rumble with Breakdown. Bumblebee, thanks to Megatron, was exposed to the deadly Dark Energon. Yet, the scout insisted he was fine and went for a drive with Raf instead.

Ratchet could only groan in frustration as Bumblebee drove off, "I wish he could just stay so I won't be worried about further complication."

"Don't worry, Ratch. Bee's going to be fine," Bulkhead reassured.

"Still I can't believe Megatron was inside his mind after our trip to his warship," Arcee recounted.

"Yeah, pretty scary if you think about it. He got all the chance to scrap us while he was here," Bulkhead quipped.

"The only thing preventing him from doing that was Bumblebee's consciousness," stated Ratchet, "If only I was aware of that much earlier, I wouldn't put Bumblebee into induced stasis. And Megatron would've never had the chance to restore himself..."

"Megatron's recovery is all but your doing, old friend," comforted Optimus, "Were it not for your effort, our young scout could be in more imminent danger."

"Optimus is right, Ratchet. Can you imagine if Megatron stayed even longer in Bee's head? I don't need a degree in psychology to know it won't be good for him," stated Arcee.

"Hey, look at the time," Bulkhead called, "It's time to pick up Miko from her detention...again."

"And Jack from his work shift," Arcee added.

The rest of the day went in a blur and the evening came. All Autobots and the children were doing their thing, when Ratchet noted that Agent Fowler was paying them a visit. The said man strolled inside the base in his car.

"Prime, sorry for the sudden drop," Fowler apologized as he got out of his car in hurry.

"Not a problem, Agent Fowler. What can I do for you?" asked Optimus politely.

"I have an emergency that I think you should take a look," Fowler stated as he hurriedly climbed up the platform, "Have you heard the recent activity of IRIS?"

"The terrorist group who blew up Manhattan hotel a week ago?" Raf asked.

Bumblebee beeped a question to Raf.

"According to the news, the CEO of a big company was having a meeting in the hotel. Few days before the CEO received a threat from IRIS, demanding him to pay them money or they would kill him," Raf explained.

"Let me guess, the big boss refused?" asked Arcee.

"Yes, and he called the FBI for extra protection. As such, the hotel where the meeting took place was heavily guarded," Fowler explained, "But they still got him. And then the killer blew up the entire hotel, presumably to cover their tracks."

"All those life lost, just because they were there..." Jack lamented.

"They started as a small extremist group at first, but they grew increasingly dangerous in the past two years. Their system of operation is, I hate to say it, impossible to crack. No matter how tight the security was, they could sneak an assassin in. They too managed to hack into the security cameras, rendering all of them useless. What's worse, they left no survivor or witness behind," Fowler gave the horror detail, "For two years we have worked all our brains off figuring out how they did it."

"And why are you telling us this?" Ratchet interrupted in gruff tone.

"I'm getting there. We finally have a clue about the perpetrator. This is a detail that we kept secret from the media," Fowler said as he retrieved a plastic case containing a charred metal pipe, "This is a charred remain from the hotel. When the forensic examined the chemical in the blast, they found something that shouldn't be there. They found a trace of Energon."

"Energon?!" Ratchet exclaimed in surprise, "Agent Fowler, let me conduct my own test."

Receiving the sample from Fowler, Ratchet immediately went to work. The entire Team Prime waited nervously for the Autobot medic to announce the result. After a while, Ratchet finally got a result.

"It would seem that your forensic was right," Ratchet announced in a disbelief tone, "There is a trace of Energon in this sample, suggesting a damage caused by an Energon-based weapon. Only Cybertronian can possess such thing."

" _But it wasn't any of us!_ " Bumblebee beeped loudly.

"Bee's right, it can't be us. Optimus will have our heads if we kill humans," Bulkhead pointed out.

"Agent Fowler, I can safely assure you that the Autobots are not to blame for the incident," Optimus finally concluded.

"If it wasn't us..." Arcee began.

"Must be the 'Cons, obvs," said Miko.

"The Cons are targeting humans now?" Raf gasped in horror.

"The 'Cons may be the bad guys, but that doesn't make any sense," Jack said.

"Indeed Jack. I doubt it was the work of Decepticons either," Optimus decreed, "Megatron will never make such a move in the open without good reason."

"Both Autobots and Decepticons are cleared of suspicion anyway," Fowler revealed, "The culprit started the attack from inside the hotel. I doubt somebody would miss a Bot or a Con walking into the hotel lobby. Based on the situation, IRIS is the most obvious culprit. I think we have a reason to believe that the terrorists are working with a Cybertronian."

"Or they may just have a Cybertronian technology?" Jack hinted.

"Even that sounds impossible. Hold on, let me take a closer look," Ratchet said as he went back to his equipment, "Hmm, it seems that this Energon trace is mixed with carbon suggesting a carbon-based creature."

"This is getting nowhere," Arcee commented.

"I think my head is pounding," Bulkhead whined as he was unable to process all the information.

"Ratchet, can you determine the mysterious Cybertronian's identity with the biological trace from the Energon?" Prime asked.

"Yes, all I need to do is extract the CNA and look for a match in the files. Hopefully our database has a clue to this mystery," Ratchet replied, "But this will take some time, because the limited equipment in here."

"I have to go back now," Fowler said as he headed to his car, "Give me a call when you find something, will you?"

Agent Fowler left the base and Team Prime resumed their tasks. It was getting rather late, but the children refused to go home before Ratchet made a discovery. After two hours of waiting, Ratchet seemed to make a discovery. But instead of announcing it, he was frozen in front of his screen.

"Ratchet? What's wrong?" Arcee finally asked.

Miko, who was about to fall asleep on the couch, perked up, "What? You finally have something, docbot?"

"It is..." Ratchet stuttered as he still kept his back facing the others, "Yes, I got the result. Which, I absolutely had not expected."

"Good, then tell us," Bulkhead demanded.

Ratchet hesitated for a moment, especially when he made an eye contact with Optimus. But he knew he had to tell it sooner or later.

"I will cut straight to the point. There's a match from our database to the CNA I extracted from the Energon sample," said Ratchet.

" _Okay, then who is it? Someone we know?_ " Bumblebee asked with anticipation.

"It is...somebody not all of us know," Ratchet said.

The medic decided to show the image on his computer. It was the image of a young Autobot femme youngling. Optimus' spark skipped a beat at that sight.

"Wow, a Cybertronian kid?" asked Miko.

" _Arianna_?" Bulkhead read the name aloud, "Never heard of that name. How about you guys?"

Both Arcee and Bumblebee shook their head.

"I know this little one," Optimus suddenly spoke, "She is my daughter."

The room became silent at once. Everybody could hear their jaws dropping on the floor from the shocking revelation. Arcee was the first to collect back her wits.

"Y-you have a daughter...?!" stuttered the motorcycle.

"Whoa-wha-wait-what?!" stammered Bulkhead in shock, "Seriously?!"

"Optimus, you have a kid?" Jack repeated in disbelief.

"You guys aren't new here anymore. Why is this the first time we heard of this?" Miko questioned in disappointed tone.

" _It is our first time too!_ " Bumblebee said.

"Nobody had a single idea of this until now!" Bulkhead exclaimed.

Everyone waited for Optimus to answer, but the Prime just kept gazing to the monitor forlornly.

"Optimus, I think they have the right to know," Ratchet advised.

The Prime knew he had to come clean, "Arianna was born some time during the waning age of Cybertron. Both my sparkmate Elita-One and I knew if Megatron became aware of our daughter's existence, he undoubtedly would use her for his advantage," Optimus recalled the events in pained tone, "As such we made tremendous effort to hide her. We decided that it would be the best if no one knew about us having a sparkling."

The usually stoic Prime didn't bother to hide his emotion from everyone else.

"Elita-One sacrificed herself to keep Arianna safe. And I...only could keep her in secret for so long. Megatron eventually discovered her in the Autobot refugee site," Optimus' voice began to crack as he continued, "I tried to get there as fast as I could, but Megatron had preceded me."

"Megatron took your daughter...?" Arcee asked.

Optimus closed his eyes, "And I could do nothing. By the time I got there, Arianna was gone. Megatron brought her with him to Earth, and wasted no time on giving me the threat. But when I finally arrived on Earth, she was nowhere to be found. Megatron stated that she escaped from him."

"You believed him?" Miko asked, "He could be lying."

"Megatron would have no reason to make such a lie," Optimus reasoned, "I tried not to give up hope, but since that day only the AllSpark knew where she was...or if she was still alive. As time passed, it soon became clear that the chance of her survival was...slim."

"Arianna disappeared on this planet roughly three years ago," Ratchet mentioned, "It was almost impossible for a young one like her to survive that long without access to Energon. The rescue operation...was likely to become a recovery operation."

Optimus turned around to hide his pained expression from his subordinates. Since long ago, he had become aware of what Arianna's fate would be, if she was left stranded on Earth. His beloved daughter would've suffered a slow, painful death of starvation, scared and alone. The thought was too excruciating for a father to think, and would always haunt his weary spark.

"I knew that I had to find her, no matter what," Optimus gravely spoke, with his back still facing the others, "But I'm afraid...I will never be prepared to accept the outcome."

The entire Team Prime had never expected to see the other side of their leader. After all, he was the one who always told them never to give up hope. But they knew what a loss of a family could do to a person.

"So...how could Arianna's Energon be in the hotel incident?" Jack asked, breaking the silence.

Optimus and everyone else's mind finally snapped back to the topic on hand. The Autobot leader silently hoped in his spark that he was wrong about Arianna's demise.

"If an Energon-based weapon was the one being used in the massacre, I can only come up with one conclusion," Ratchet said reluctantly, "That Arianna...was somehow involved."

"That's absurd, Ratchet! Optimus' daughter killing innocent humans?" Arcee protested.

"Our time together was brief, which I regretted the most. But, one thing for sure," Optimus said, "I know Arianna's spark. She was born not to harm others."

"I do not want to say something offensive about her, but she had very little to none fighting capabilities," Ratchet added, "In fact, she was one of the few trainees who got disqualified on the first day of new recruit training."

"Sorry to ask this, but was she that bad?" Bulkhead asked, as he didn't understand why the Prime's daughter could be kicked out of training.

"I heard this from the training instructor, that she couldn't even use a firearm properly," Ratchet informed.

"Even based on the fact that Arianna was not capable of causing harm, we still have a mystery to solve," Optimus decreed, "I will contact Agent Fowler to inform him about our finding."

" _Wow, you're going to tell him that?_ " Bumblebee interrupted.

"Are you sure? Fowler's going to make your girl a suspect," Bulkhead added.

"In this case, hiding the truth will not do any good for all of us," Optimus stated firmly, "Regardless of whoever the perpetrator's identity might be, if my daughter is still alive, I will find her this time."

Yes, he would find her for sure. For so long Optimus had believed that Arianna was dead. A clue from the current incident had shed him some light of hope. But, during his time as a warrior, he had seen so many good hopes turned out to be merely expectations. Deep inside his spark, Optimus prayed hard that this one wouldn't turn out like that.

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 **I hope my practice has a result. Review please :D**


	4. The Underworld

**Chapter 4  
**

* * *

"Come on, don't give me the crap!"

" _Crush him! Crush him! Crush him!"_

The deafening cheers and shouts filled the underground battle arena. In the middle of the red ring was Aria being clutched under the arms of a bulky bald man. That man was the proof of highest human accomplishment, since he had Aria cornered under his deadly arm lock. Still, Aria knew she had the upper hand. She simply knocked the man's feet off, and when the man was lying flat on the floor, the half-Autobot girl delivered the final blow to the face.

"Iron Master is out!" shouted the referee.

After that came the cheering as well as the booing sound from the spectator. Aria brushed off the dirt on her arms and walked back to her boss.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" said her boss in amusement, "Okay folks, time to give me the money."

When the spectators handed the winner his money, Aria silently walked pass them and returned to her room. When she got there she didn't bother to turn the light on. That day was quite a change of pace, as she didn't need to kill anybody. Sitting on her bed and leaning her head to the wall, she slowly began to lose herself in her thought, a thing she considered a luxury.

It has been 3 years since she began doing the dirty job for IRIS, yet for her it felt like forever. The group held her power in high regards, and she was considered as number one assassin. In the span of 3 years she believed she had slaughtered more than a thousand. It was so many, that she began considering it as daily task. Yet, contrary to what they believed, she was not without remorse. The programming on her brain didn't completely turn her into heartless machine.

Outside she was as flat as steel, but inside Aria was dying. The black haired girl was fully aware that she was causing the death of many people. Most of them were criminals, but not few were innocent people. She was also aware that she used Arianna's hand to kill humans. It pained her the most since Arianna didn't want to harm humans. She didn't know how long she could do this, but she knew she couldn't stop.

Because she wanted to stay alive, no matter what it costed. After all, that was what she promised Arianna. She could not give up until she recovered her lost memory. After that, she could decide whether she would continue to live or not.

Closing her eyes, she began to remember past days. Because she lost her memories, there wasn't much for her to remember. But, the merge with Arianna gave her more than just a metallic body. Arianna's memories were passed to Aria as well. Aria found it rather ironic that she was remembering a past that wasn't her own. Turned out Arianna's past wasn't the pleasant one, but it was better than nothing.

Aria could finally see the war Arianna always talked about. She could see the flame of destruction everywhere, the sky covered by the black smoke, and dying Cybertronians all around. The memory was so clear that Aria felt like she was there herself. No matter where Arianna was going, it was always chaos and destruction. But even in middle of the war, there were some nice memories. Arianna herself, was surprisingly a positive individual even if the situation looked so bleak.

One particular memory stood out, and it was about Optimus Prime, Arianna's father. Arianna told Aria the truth about her family time being so limited. The father and daughter only met face to face just for one time. Aria felt that memory was different than any other. She concluded that one memory was the most precious for the Autobot youngling. In that memory, Optimus Prime was smiling at his daughter. He had the same caring eyes like Arianna. Just by remembering those eyes, all of Aria's worries vanished into thin air.

 _"This must be why Arianna could be so calm all the time..._ " she thought to herself.

Arianna...thinking about her brought so much joy and pain at the same time.

The ponytail girl curled herself up as she tried to fight back the emotion. She missed the warmth of Arianna's metallic body. She missed all Arianna's story about her home world. She missed her voice and smile. Aria missed Arianna so much. And then came the memory of Arianna's death that crushed her to no end. All those warmth and smiles just vanished in matter of seconds.

When she was deep in thought, her commlink beeped.

" _002, report to the boss' office, we have new job."_

Without any word, Aria stood up from her bed and left her room to go to said destination.

* * *

 **Review please :D**


	5. Find Them

**Chapter 5  
**

* * *

Team Prime was waiting for the human authority to give them update. It has been 3 days since Optimus revealed the fact about his family. Since then, the atmosphere inside the base was a bit heavy. Optimus made sure he was always present near the commlink in case Agent Fowler gave him a call. His optics was fixed to the screens above, while the other Autobots were observing him from behind.

"I have never seen Optimus this edgy before," whispered Bulkhead.

"Can't blame him," Arcee said in sympathetic way, "It's been three days and still no news. It must be a torture for him. Knowing his daughter may be alive, but he doesn't know where she is."

"I still don't understand why he never told us all these years. Did he think we can't keep secret or what?" Bulkhead asked.

"That wasn't why Optimus did that," Ratchet interrupted, "You know how limited our resources are, it was even worse at our first months on Earth. I could tell how much Optimus wanted to search every corner of this planet for Arianna. But he found it best to focus all of our efforts for the purpose of ending the war. As such, he preferred not to tell you all, so your objective wouldn't be shifted. Mind you, it was a very tough decision. He has a duty more important than being a parent."

Ratchet paused to recall some tough memories.

"In time I kept a watchful optics on every single Energon signal on this planet. Not only to find Energon sources. But as you can see, I never found anything such as stranded Autobot youngling."

Arcee, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee continued to observe Optimus in silence. They all reminisced back to the time when they first met him. At first they viewed him as someone majestic, strong, and fearless. He looked like someone who could do almost everything. But after knowing him for a while, their views changed drastically. Being a Prime didn't equal to become a god. He was still an Autobot with feelings and emotions.

As if to answer Optimus' prayer, the call from Agent Fowler came soon after.

" _This morning the road patrol has just busted a truck filled with illegal firearms. The shocker is, they were to be delivered to IRIS' headquarters tonight,"_ Fowler informed, " _The FBI and CIA decided that we can use this to track down IRIS' base. The plan is to deliver the weapons with FBI undercover as the delivery man. Mind you our law enforcements are specially trained for hard boiled situation. But with a possibility of a stray Cybertronian involved, this is going to be tricky."_

"Agent Fowler, we will do everything in our power to assist you," Optimus declared.

 _"I expect no less from you, Prime,"_ Fowler said with a bittersweet smile, " _To be honest, with everything that is going on right now, I can't say for sure what will happen next. The goals right now are, for us to put an end to this terrorist, and for you to find your little girl."_

It was 11.00 p.m. On the outskirt of Washington, the National Guard and the law enforcements were preparing themselves for the dangerous operation. They had the truck which the road patrol stopped earlier in the day. The armed men were discussing their plan, when Fowler was briefing the Autobot team present consisted of Optimus, Ratchet, and Arcee who was hiding inside Optimus' trailer. Since the Autobots were supposed to be back up only, they decided to use minimum force.

"When they encounter something other than humans in there, they will give us the call," Fowler said as he hopped into Optimus' wheel.

Then the team moved out. They drove to the place where the weapons were supposed to be delivered. The weapons truck in the front of the convoy, while the rest of the law enforcement and the Autobots were tailing from safe distance. Their destination was in middle of dense forest. As the weapon truck travelled quite far into the forest, they were stopped by three men.

"Hey, you got the thing?" asked one of the three.

"Yes, it's in the back," replied the undercover driver.

"Hang on, I'll go to check for a minute."

The three men opened the trailer and found the package to be satisfactory. They motioned the driver to follow their direction. The thick vegetations made it difficult for the armed force to stay silent. Eventually, one of the three men caught a suspicious sound.

"Hey man, did you hear that?"

"Yeah...sounds like an engine sound from there."

"Hey Mr. Driver, you're not being followed, are you?"

"Huh? None that I know of..." acted the undercover agent, "What...? What did you hear?"

The three men suddenly realized something about the driver, and one of them pulled a handgun out. The sound of gunshot echoed loudly in the stillness of the night. The armed force that followed from behind scrambled off their vehicle and ran to the source of the gunshots. They found the undercover agent was outside of the truck, holding a gun, and bleeding out of his right arm. In front of him lied two dead men, killed with headshots.

One of the soldier requested for a medical team through his radio, before asking the agent, "What happened?!"

"They...they found out. I had no other choice because all three of them were about to shoot me," he rasped as he held his bleeding, "One managed to run off."

They all knew it was a bad news. And their bad feeling turned out to be real, as they were ambushed by the terrorist.

At IRIS base, chaos ensued as well. After they got the information about the law enforcement on their way, a heated argument broke out.

"We need to leave now! We can't take the risk!"

"What are you, a pussy?! We have the firepower, we can take them on!"

"I've received a word from the boss!" a man shouted out, "We have to leave this place! 002, you go and buy some time while we pack the precious items! We will radio you and the ambush team when we're done."

Aria, who was sitting on the corner, simply got up from her sitting position and walked to the front door. As soon as she was out, she flipped out hidden roller blades on her feet and dashed off. It wasn't too difficult to find the location because the gunshots were pretty loud.

More gunshots could be heard by the Autobot team who parked several miles from the location. Fowler was communicating with his radio and looked so frustrated.

"Goodness Mother Liberty," he moaned, "The plan got foiled."

" _That explains the fireworks_ ," Arcee talked through Optimus' radio.

Before Fowler could say anything, they all were startled by a very loud explosion.

" _Optimus, do you read me?_ " Ratchet radioed in, " _I detected a weak Energon signature not far from your location!"_

Fowler's radio beeped as well.

" _We got another hostility that I think needs your expertise, Agent William Fowler!"_

"Copy that, we can see it even from here," Fowler said, "Prime, we move out."

Optimus did as told, and started his engine.

"What does it look like?" Fowler asked to his radio.

" _You're not going to believe it, but I need you to. It's a girl, a human girl. She...grows a cannon and a sword out of her arms!"_

Fowler was visibly startled, even Optimus pulled on his brake slightly from the surprise.

Shoot, slice, shoot again, dodge a bullet, and slice. While the terrorist members were engaged in shooting spree, Aria used the chance to strike the army of justice from behind. Taking them down wasn't easy, the law enforcements packed quite a punch. Unlike the criminals and commoners she usually slaughtered, these soldiers were trained for vicious fight. Just a bit ago, one soldier managed to hit her on the shoulder with a heavy duty rifle. Nevertheless, her body was built to take hits.

Only one thing was on her mind, stay alive.

She managed to wrestle down one soldier and was about to shoot his head off. Then suddenly a blue motorcycle streamed her way and stopped her from executing the man. The ponytail girl was perplexed to see a motorcycle without a rider. She was startled even more when the motorcycle transformed into a female robot.

"Optimus, they weren't joking. There is really a human girl with a cannon arm in front of me," Arcee reported as she kept her blaster pointed to the 14 years old girl.

Aria was frozen in her place, as she couldn't believe what she saw. The blue armour briefly reminded her of Arianna. She could identify the creature in front of her, and that confused her. Was there really another Autobot on Earth? The next thing she saw shocked her to the core. A red truck was coming toward their way, and that red truck transformed into a bigger Autobot.

"What in the name of...?!" gawked Agent Fowler in surprise as he saw the half-machine girl. In reflex, he pulled out his handgun and pointed it to the girl as a self defense.

"Agent Fowler, please step back," Optimus said as he shielded the dark-skinned man with his hand.

"Yes, I'll be more than happy to do that, Prime," Fowler said as he tried his best to calm his shaky legs.

 _Prime..._

That name wasn't unfamiliar for Aria. When she took a careful look, the body shape was little wrong compared to what she saw in Arianna's memory. But the blue optics...there was no mistaking it. Arianna's memory flooded into her shocked mind, and for some unknown reason Aria felt like wanting to cry.

"002, what are you doing...WHAT THE HELL?!" one IRIS member was making his way to Aria but halted his steps as he set his eyes on the two giant robots, "Oh mommy! Hey base! When we can get our ass out of this place?!"

A voice from his radio replied, " _We need more time. The clean up isn't finished yet!"_

"What a bunch of slowpokes!" the man groaned, "We cannot let those things get any closer to our base! You have to slow them down as much as you can!"

Aria's programming responded automatically, but every single cell in her body refused to obey it. The IRIS member was about to make a getaway, but he stopped when their no.1 killing machine didn't do the order.

"Hey, what are you doing?! I told you to attack!"

Aria's body began convulsing, yet her face showed no sign of pain. It looked like she was doing zombie-like moves, but something happened in her head. The program implanted in her brain received the orders, and sent out electrical waves to the brain to move the body parts. But because Aria resisted the order, the program sent out stronger electrical shock that threatened to smoke the brain. Aria knew what would happen if she continued to resist.

No, just no. The Autobot before her was Arianna's most beloved person, Aria was fully aware of that. There was no way she could hurt him.

"What's wrong with you?!"

Enough was enough. Slowly but surely, while her brain was still shocked by the program, Aria tried to retake the control of her body. She moved her convulsing body, and turned around to face the IRIS member.

"SHUT UP!" screamed Aria.

The man widened his eyes in shock. For so long, he and the rest of IRIS believed the killing machine wasn't capable of speech, or talking back. Yet she did, and the man suddenly feared for his life.

"You want me to hurt them?" Aria sneered as she sent murderous glare to the IRIS member, "I prefer to hurt you instead."

The man scrambled backward as Aria began to slowly walk toward him. Somehow, he discovered a stray rocket launcher on the ground, presumably dropped by the military. Without thinking twice, he picked up the rocket launcher and shot it to Aria. With her body still out of control, Aria's first instinct was to brace the shot.

And it just happened. Aria felt a rush of energy, and the next thing she knew, she grew ten times in size. Her entire body transformed into full Autobot body, clad in sea green armour. With the bigger and armoured form, she easily grabbed the rocket and flung it to the sky.

"Boss...never mentioned this kind of thing..." the IRIS man stuttered in fear.

Fearing for his life, the IRIS member immediately fled the scene. Finally gaining back the control of her body, Aria attempted to give chase.

"Arianna...?"

But Optimus' voice stopped her in her track. It was a strange feeling to finally hear that voice in person, not in memory.

"Arianna...is that you?" asked the ever hopeful Optimus, as he walked toward the sea green Autobot femme who looked a lot like his daughter.

Aria glanced over her shoulder. She made an eye contact with Optimus but soon she turned away. She had no courage to look at his face.

"I'm sorry. But I'm not the one you're looking for," Aria briefly said.

Aria didn't need to look at Optimus' face to know that he was petrified in shock. She closed her eyes, and transformed back to her human form. After realizing that the program was controlling her no more, she approached Agent Fowler.

"The base in this forest is just a branch. IRIS main base is located somewhere else, and they are going to retreat there," she said, "I can give you the location, you're going to find Valka there."

Fowler was flabbergasted for a while, but quickly collected his wits and grabbed his radio. The rest happened like a blur. All the military units quickly assembled and drove to the location Aria provided them. The said girl willingly turned herself in as well.

* * *

 **Review please :D**


	6. The Painful Truth

**Chapter 6**

* * *

The next morning, Aria was sitting in the interrogation room, with both her hands tied with very robust handcuffs. Two guards were there, on high alert with their weapons. The girl didn't bother to look anywhere else except the table in front of her. A while later, Agent Fowler came in and took a seat in front of her. The Agent took some moment to examine the girl. He would never imagine that the perpetrator of mass murder was a young girl.

Fowler : "I have news for you. Thanks to the location you gave us we managed to corner IRIS before they made a getaway. However they refused to surrender and fought back. Most of the members were shot dead at the scene, while Valka the leader committed suicide by shooting his head in his underground bunker. I think it's safe to say it's the end of IRIS."

Aria exhaled a long sigh in response to the news. However, she wasn't fully relieved yet.

F : "Why don't we start with introduction? My name is William Fowler, a special agent from Unit:E. What's your name?"

A : "...It's Aria."

F : "Okay, can you tell me something more than just 'Aria'? Like where you came from, or your family?"

A : (shakes head) "I can't. I don't remember anything about my past, or myself."

F : "Yet you still can remember your name?"

A : "It wasn't my real name. It was Arianna who decided to call me that."

F : "Arianna...do you know who she is?"

A : (nods head) "Yes, she was an Autobot youngling."

F : (slightly surprised) "So you know the Autobots, I assume?"

A : (nods) "She told me everything, about her family and homeworld. About the war...and Decepticons."

F : "Well, that shortens everything. Can you tell me where she is now?"

A : (tenses up) "...She...had passed."

Fowler widened his eyes at the news, but he wasn't very surprised. He cupped his hands together and lowered his head for a while, as if he was contemplating.

A : "And they fused her body with mine, changing me into a half-machine."

F : "Who are 'they'?"

A : "The scientists. I heard that they were a secret group conducting experiments that were considered illegal."

F : "And I guess IRIS worked together with this scientist group, that's why you ended up with them?"

Aria nodded.

F : "Can you give me their names, and the location of their hideout?"

A : "I can give you the location of the lab. But, I don't think you will find them."

F : "Why?"

A : "Because they're already dead, all of them. A year ago, the scientist group and IRIS were in disagreement. IRIS leaders decided that they were no longer a use, and used me to kill them. Their bodies were dumped at the sea. Their lab was also destroyed."

F : (pinches the bridge of his nose) "...A year ago, eh? How long have you worked with IRIS?"

A : "...Three, almost four years."

F : "And you were the perpetrator on the Manhattan Hotel incident as well?"

A : (lowers head) "...Yes."

F : "At least we have evidence that you were not the brain behind of all the murders. You were merely used by IRIS to do all their dirty works. Then why was yesterday different? You just stopped as soon as you saw Prime."

A : "It's just like you said. Because I saw him. And the IRIS member behind me ordered me to attack him. I couldn't do that to Arianna's father."

F : "I understand that Arianna told you about her father. But how did you know what he looked like?"

A : "From her memory. Her memory core was planted into me as well."

F : "You have her memory? And that's why you were able to recognize Prime?"

A : (clutching hands tightly) "Arianna and I were very close, because we only had each other during our imprisonment. She was everything to me. If I ever laid a hand on her beloved father, she would never forgive me."

F : "Then that means, even under control you were still aware of what you were doing?"

A : "Yes, very clearly."

F : "Yesterday we've seen you were capable of fighting the control. Why didn't you do that from the very beginning?"

A : "The program was so strong, that my body didn't belong to me anymore. If I attempted to resist, it would send a stronger electrical pulse that could fry my brain. Should I disobeyed, my head would blow up. Yesterday was different, because I'd rather die than to harm Arianna's father...with Arianna's hands. How I managed to shut off the program instead, I still have no idea."

F : "How about your transformation ability?"

A : "I didn't know I could do that. At that time, all I wanted to do was to block the shot."

F : "I know I'm not in position to say this. You...I mean, IRIS caused the deaths of many people, not only their underworld rivals but also innocent civilians. The Manhattan Hotel, and many more. Why did you let them do that?"

Silence...

A : "...I woke up in that room, with no memories of my own. If Arianna wasn't there, I would've lost my sanity since the day one. I owed her my life. At some point, I knew that something bad was going to happen to us. So she made me promise. That I would recover my memory and find out who I truly am. That I would stay strong no matter what happened."

Aria was shaking badly as more memories and emotions rushed through her. Her cheeks were flushed red.

A : "You said I let IRIS to do what they did. The truth is, I didn't want to. They started out as a mere criminal gang, yet they gained so much power because of me. You have no idea how many times I wanted to terminate myself. But...if I died that way I would betray my promise, the very last thing that connected me to Arianna. I have to know my previous life before all of these happened. If I were to leave this world, I would take my memory with me."

Fowler was speechless after what he just heard.

A : "...I regret killing all those people. But I will not regret trying to stay alive."

* * *

Later that day, Fowler contacted Autobot Base to provide them the information he got from the interrogation. The entire Team Prime had a hard time to process what they just heard. After all, they had never heard anything such as a human being fused with an Autobot.

" _I'm very sorry that I have to tell you this, Prime, but it has been confirmed that your daughter is no more."_

All the Autobots' shoulder sank down as they heard it. Optimus had it much worse, he was on verge of collapsing. He was aware that Arianna couldn't possibly be alive. But, to have it confirmed just shattered his spark in million pieces. The pieces that he probably wouldn't pick up anytime soon.

"Optimus," Arcee called in soft voice, "We're all regretting this. You're not alone."

At this point Optimus knew there wasn't much they could do about it. His daughter was already with the Allspark, together with his sparkmate.

"So...what will happen to that Aria girl?" Bulkhead asked.

" _She will remain in our custody until all the investigations are over. We're already conducting a search for her family. But with her memory loss, there are so few we can go with,"_ Fowler said, " _To be honest, the future for this girl is rather grim. She isn't normal after all. Even if we find her original family, there's no guarantee they would accept her back, in that condition."_

"Agent Fowler, I have a request," Optimus said as he suddenly came up with something.

* * *

 **Since this is a dialogue heavy chapter, I tried a new approach, and hope I did a decent job. Review please :3  
**


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